Archive for the ‘China Glaze’ Category

Alright, today we’ll be resuming The Top 20 Polishes of All time countdown. For a recap of the colors so far check out the Top 2o (2008) category.

Number 13 is China Glaze For Audrey. I wore For Audrey last Halloween. I was dressed as Marie Antoinette and the costume was a similar shade of blue. This color was released in 2007 as a Limited Edition polish in honor of Audrey Hepburn. Fittingly, For Audrey is a nearly true Tiffany Blue. A true match is unlikely because, apparently, Tiffany & Co. holds a color trademark on their famous blue.

The minute I saw the promotion for this color I simply had to have it. Now… I’m going to impart some information that many of you may find shocking. I don’t particularly care for Audrey Hepburn. I’ve only seen portions of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and didn’t really care for the film either. And… I really, really dislike Tiffany & Co. jewelry. My point is that I love this unique color for the actual color and not for anything that China Glaze intended for it to represent. There is just something extraordinary about For Audrey. It will always have a special place in my collection (even though it does absolutely nothing for my skin tone).

I’m following the unloved OPI The “It” Color with the ridiculously loved China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I actually surprised myself by deciding to put this on the list. I resisted buying this color for eons. Everyone constantly raved about it and I just didn’t see what the big deal was all about. I hate to say this, but I even had a little bit of disdain for this color because it was so popular. China Glaze Ruby Pumps is like the Da Vinci Code of the nail polish world. It’s the same reason I don’t own OPI I’m Not Really A Waitress. In any case, I did not fully understand or appreciate how disgustingly gorgeous this color is until I purchased a bottle. I got it inadvertently because I really wanted China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Ruby Pumps came in the set. I found that pictures simply don’t do it justice which is part of the reason why I wasn’t able to understand all the raves.

Ruby Pumps is stunning, plain and simple. The bright red glitter under the jelly red base has a complexity that just does not translate well into photographs. If you’ve been fighting the Ruby Pumps lemming like I once did, stop it. Get a bottle right now. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Nail art is a silly way to support a Presidential candidate, I know, but seeing as how some ***shat turd-wad stole my Obama sign [1. Actually, funny story - I saw someone walking past my window with an Obama sign, then I looked out to see that my own Obama sign was missing. I immediately thought, "Holy ****, that guy took my Obama sign!" So I ran out the door like in insane woman, my hair all disheveled, my nails all different colors (I was swatching at the time), in an over-sized pink pajama top and fluffy pink slippers with a crazy blood lust gleam in my eye. I couldn't chase him on foot so I actually got in my car to chase him down. I lost him a few blocks away from where I live but I didn't give up the search. I drove around aimlessly asking people if they had seen a man with an Obama sign. My boyfriend turned to me and said, "You realize, you look crazy right now?" At that point I thought it better to just give up and drive back home. Only then did I realize that Joe Biden held a rally here at the University today and that poor man who almost faced a violent end by my hands was probably a poor Obama supporter walking home from the rally. My sign probably met its end on Halloween night and I just hadn't noticed its absence until today.] I figured I might as well sport my endorsement on my nails, since presumably some McCain supporter can’t abscond with them. I’m not the only one, check out Eve’s custom Obama print. Only in my wildest dreams could I do anything that elaborate so I decided to copy Luckypenny (a fellow nber) and do a Obama hope symbol manicure.

I used notebook paper reinforcements to get the shapes right – sort of a pain, but definitely worth it. If you are planning to do an Obama or Democratic Party inspired manicure for election day, please send me your images. I would love to show our support for the Party by posting all that democratic creativity on Election day. And, I hope this goes without saying, GET OUT AND VOTE!

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Disclosure: Bermuda Breakaway, Caribbean Blue, and White striper was sent to me for review by their respective companies.

A little while ago, one of the lovely girls on MUA RAOK’d me these great OPI Halloween decals (along with a my mega lemming OPI Boo-berry). I fell in love with the Jack-o-Lantern decal immediately and decided that I would use them for one of my Halloween manis this year. I’ve actually never used decals before so I was surprised to find that, counter-intuitively, decals are actually really stiff. So stiff that the plastic refused to mold with the curvature of my nail bed, causing the ends of the decal to pop up. It still looks okay, I guess, but the psycho perfectionist in me is probably going to use this flaw as an excuse to remove this manicure and break out the coveted OPI Ghostess with the Mostess for Halloween Night

It wasn’t just the stiffness of the decals that ruined this nail art attempt. No sir. Lots of factors contributed to this fail. OPI Osaka to Me Orange is a major PITA. It took me four coats to even get close to complete coverage. But I already knew that would happen, I’m just a glutton for punishment. (You can check out my comparisons of different oranges, including my previous battle with OtMO, here and here.)

I topped my creation with China Glaze Ghoulish Glow. Ghoulish Glow got a bit of a bad rap for not being glow-y enough but I like the effect. My picture doesn’t do it justice but it actually glows a lot. To get the best results I sugget the following: the glow-in-the-dark particles inside this polish settle very quickly so you have to shake the ever-living-day-lights out of it a few minutes before you use it to get the maximum glow effect. (Of course, let the bubbles settle before you put it on.) As for the coats, you have to build. 1 coat gave me a little glow, 3 coats gave me mega glow. The down side of this polish is that it dulls the color that you put it over, but that’s going to happen with an glow-in-the-dark polish that is meant to be used as a top coat.

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Disclosure: Ghoulish Glow was sent to me for review by China Glaze. (I think.)

China Glaze has really gone above and beyond this Fall – all three of their new collections are mostly composed of what I consider to be unique colors. Operation Colour is particularly special because these colors are not typically reminiscent of Fall. It’s like China Glaze is saying, hey, you don’t have to spend the entire fall in muted, dark colors – extend the summer just a bit (which to me, as a Floridian, makes perfect sense). Rumor has it that this collection will be available online in about a week or so.

I know I say this in just about every post and sadly I will have to continue to do so until I’m no longer an impoverished student that cannot afford a better camera: this color is not blue in real life, China Glaze Agent Lavender is very visibly a light lavender. The consistency of the polish reminded me of China Glaze Second-hand Silk – it’s a chalky 3 coater. My bottle was a bit on the thick side but I don’t think that is going to be representative of the polish as a rule. Every blog that has covered China Glaze this season has complained about application issues, always in reference to different colors. If you happen to unluckily chance upon a thick bottle of polish, from any brand, a few drops of generic nail polish thinner will do the trick – do not use nail polish remover for this purpose. (In real life Agent Lavender is much lighter than it appears in this photo, I’m really sorry guys I know how annoying this is – swatches are supposed to be accurate.)

China Glaze Code Orange is pumpkin with pinkish shimmer. The shimmer is very obvious outdoors although not as pink as it looks in the bottle. In doors, not surprisingly, it looks like a creme. The color is a slightly darker orange than it appears in the image above. There were no application issues with this color – I think it looks better with 3 coats but it’s definitely wearable at 2.

China Glaze Golden Opportunity is a shimmery mustard yellow. I had some major cuticle drag with this color, but it’s workable at 3 coats.

China Glaze Pink Underground is a Barbie pink laced with magenta toned shimmer. It, too, was chalky and a bit on the thick side. The base color is 2 or 3 shades darker than China Glaze Second-hand Silk.

China Glaze Revolution is an ultra glossy bright orangey-red. It had the best application of the bunch, easy, smooth, perfect in 2 coats. No matter how often I see them, I never ever *ever* get tired of these bright reds. Gorgeous.

And finally, China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. Geez. I’m almost ashamed to post this picture – unlike my depiction of this color, it is not blue at all, it actually is periwinkle. This is the standout color from the collection as far as I’m concerned. I absolutely love out of the ordinary colors with a creme finish. To me the absence of shimmer is synonymous with chic sophistication, no offense to shimmer lovers. For as long as I can remember unique colors are almost always also shimmery. It happens so often that I associate shimmer with commonness. Don’t get me wrong. I wear shimmers, most of the time begrudgingly. I mean, I don’t hate them per se. I just prefer cremes and it’s just great to see some variation in finish choice. (In real life Secret Peri-wink-le is lighter and not as bright blue as it appears in this photo, again I am SO sorry, this really is unacceptable but despite trying different settings, my camera always takes inaccurate images when it comes to blues and purples. The best I can do for now is try to accurately describe these for you.)

Finally, here’s the remaining colors from the China Glaze Rodeo Diva Swatches, I apologize for the delay. You can see the first set here. The sun cooperated a whole lot of not at all in photographing of these swatches. The remaining colors in the Rodeo Diva Collection applied very well, 2 coats each, excellent consistency, except where noted.

China Glaze Red Stallion is a shimmery mid-tone red. It’s a pretty color but you guys know how I feel about shimmery reds.

China Glaze Prize Winning Mare is more my type of thing. I actually like it more in the shade than in the sunlight with full on shimmer. In the shade, it’s a more subtle gold speckled brown, very beautiful. Scrangie thinks it’s somewhat similar to Dior Gold Nugget.

China Glaze Golden Spurs is tan with gold shimmer. I noticed that when I applied it with 2 thin coats I got a lighter shade than when I used 2 thick coats which gave me a darker tan shade.

Oh man China Glaze Cowgirl Up was a pain in the butt to photograph. I apologize for the glare, the sun was setting and there were many clouds over head (Tropical Storm Fay hates nail polish apparently). I was only able to take a few snaps before the weather thwarted my efforts completely. Cowgirl Up, a violet with multi-toned blurple shimmer, is a much loved color from this collection, but again, probably not for me.

China Glaze Branding Iron is a brownish red with gorgeous red shimmer. Branding Iron is like a browner lighter version OPI Midnight in Moscow. I did have some difficulties with the application of Branding Iron – my bottle was really thick.

China Glaze Yee-Haw! is my least favorite color in this entire collection. It’s peach with gold shimmer. As soon as I saw this one I knew I would feel that way so I decided to use it for a manicure. Sometimes colors grow on me, that’s not the case here. There’s nothing wrong with Yee-Haw! per se, it’s actually a really pretty color – but colors like this just don’t suit me.